Griffin Twins Each Collect a Turnover in Saturday’s Thrashing of South Carolina State

The Griffin twins have one more thing in common after Saturday’s game.

In the Knight’s victory over South Carolina State, the defense shut out the Bulldog offense, leading to a final score of 38-0.

The defense held the Bulldog offense to just 223 yards. They also forced three turnovers.

Two of those came from a Griffin.

Both Shaquill and Shaquem Griffin had turnovers in the game. Shaquill with an interception, and Shaquem a forced fumble.

This is the Griffins fourth year with the UCF football program, Shaquill enters the 2016 season as a senior and his brother as a rising junior. Its been a long road for the St. Petersburg pair of brothers, and they’ve traveled it together.

Both the Griffin twins were highly recruited three star defensive backs in high school. However Shaquem now starts at linebacker for the Knights, possibly because of a congenital disorder he suffered at birth, which led to him losing one of his hands at the age of four.

Despite this setback, Shaquem has been able to achieve more than most may have thought possible. This includes being a starter for a division one football program.

His brother Shaquill has been there with him throughout the entire journey, and now they look forward to the 2016 football season under new head coach Scott Frost.

“It’s a great experience,” Shaquill said when asked what it has been like playing alongside his brother, “since I came here I’ve been looking forward to playing side by side with him.”

In order to be able to play along side each other, however, Shaquem had to learn a new position, transitioning to linebacker over the summer.

“It actually wasn’t that hard,” Shaquem said when asked what it was like transitioning from defensive back to linebacker, saying “it’s a little slower, but I got the speed for it.”

Both brothers talked about how great it was to play along side each other, with Shaquem saying “I was so emotional, right before the game, I almost cried.”

The feeling is surely sweeter when it results in a victory, the Knight’s first victory since late 2014, in fact. When asked if the victory brought a sense of relief Shaquill replied: “Most definitely.”

But after the dominate play Knights fans saw against the Bulldogs, the team isn’t getting ahead of themselves.”Right now we got eleven one-game seasons left, and we’re going to take it one at a time,” Shaquill said in the press conference following the victory, “Right now I’m already thinking about the next game, at Michigan.”

The Knights travel to Ann Arbor next week, where they will face the Michigan Wolverines. Coverage of this game will take place on ABC.